day 11: ripley to union city, tennessee 71 miles

dog bites.  missed rights.  flat tires.  leader riders.

what a day.

the first, second and last points all kind of blend together, so i'll get them shortly.  another very hot, albeit "short," day.  it got a lot longer very quickly.  i got a pinch flat six miles out of the start this morning.  right in the middle of a long climb.  not very fun changing a flat tire on the shoulder of a highway.  fortunately, dan, rollie and some of the support crew were there to lend, if nothing else, moral support.  well, that and a cannister of CO2 so the reinflation after the tire change went fast.

by mid-afternoon, my bike computer read 102 degrees.  dan's read 104.  either way, it was hot.

i've mentioned the guys i've been riding with from time to time.  usually, it's bill (retired, ex-navy, from colorado), rollie (semi-retired, lawyer from iowa) and dan (retired from plant engineer, indiana).  also coming in and out of our quartet have been  tom (retired teacher from colorado), steve (mechanical engineer from chicago - still working a lot in the middle east) and john (semi-retired lawyer from washington state).

dan had been singing "oh what a beautiful morning..." so the cornfields shot seemed appropriate

so naturally, rollie wanted to get into the action as well

john and i spent a lot of time riding and talking together on day 2 of our ride.  turns out, john served in the peace corps years ago in liberia and has spent much time throughout africa.  so he and i traded stories about our respective times on the continent.

i've also talked previously about riding in pace lines or merely in groups together.  when riding in a pack or a pace line, we'll all take turns up front.  there are specific functions that the person in the front of the pace line or pack is expected to perform.  in windy conditions, especially with headwinds, the front rider takes the brunt of the wind's force, allowing those riding behind him to have an easier time.  however, the simplest of all requirements is to call out road hazards; usually pot holes, gravel or other nasties to avoid in the road.

the second job of the lead rider is to be vigilant of all road signs.  our route maps often will note that a turn at a specific mile marker is not marked with a street sign.  it's up to the lead rider to be aware of the mileage and the upcoming turning options.  yes, we're all a bunch of yentas, so we'll all be checking our own route maps and mileage on our bike computers, but we still expect the lead rider to give us the proper directions.  yesterday, for example, there were so many missed turns.  no single group of riders was immune to misdirection yesterday.  it continued today as well.  out in the middle of corn and wheat fields, it's easy to mistake a turning.  all our mileages vary by the end of the day's ride, with intravariability within our own quartet of over a mile between different computers.  so when choosing between two unmarked roads quite close to each other, it's not uncommon for one of us to guess incorrectly.

the third job of the lead rider, although it's something we all are trying to be on our guard about, is to be hypervigilant for dogs and to call out to the rest of the rider pack for dogs along the road.  dogs along the road can be excited to see us or bored beyond belief.  they can be large or small.  they can be fierce or friendly.  but, in most cases, they can cause problems.  and the problems are compounded, especially here in tennessee, when dogs are allowed to run freely and there are no ordinances about leash laws.

today was a classic example of all of the above.  in the morning, we had numerous instances of passing dogs along our route.  in some cases, we were merely barked at.  in other cases, dogs were playfully running along side of us.  in one case, as we stopped to cross a busy two-lane highway, a lovely, playful dog sauntered across his property, coming out onto the highway to get a closer look at us.  with he tail wagging excitedly, he basically just wanted to lick us and have us pet him.  very cute young black lab.  we had to stop traffic and get the dog to come with us back across the highway and onto his property once again.  in another case, two dogs, in the presence of the woman who owned the property we just passed, ran out onto the street and followed us up a steep hill for over a quarter of a mile.  the woman never called her dogs off, nor did she seem to care that they had run onto the road.  while both these medium-sized dogs were quite playful, the greatest challenge for the seven of us was to negotiate the hill and watch as the dogs darted in and out of the fronts of our wheels.  in the end, they gave up the chase at the crest of the hill.

we stopped to feed some horses before all our misfortunes started

unfortunately, not all the stories from today were that playful or joyful.  we're taught about what to do when a dog, especially an angry dog, approaches.  we're taught what tactics to employ to get ourselves out of a jam.  this afternoon, john, dan, rollie and i were riding together when a pit bull came out of nowhere and ran up to john, the lead rider at that stage, and bit him on the ankle.  fortunately, the dog released his jaw-grip on john's ankle, having already punctured john's skin in two places and taken pieces of john's sock as well.  as the dog ran off, we quickly got john off to the side of the road, called both the support van as well as 911 to report the dog biting incident, and attended to john's wounds.

the thing that really set in for all of us, john included, was what we did and didn't do in that situation, even after all the training.  andy arrived in short order with the support van and immediately dressed john's wounds.  as we sat around waiting for the obion country deputy sheriff, john and the rest of us reflected on what had just happened.  john actually felt both a bit relieved that the dog hadn't taken him down, completely off the bike, as well as a bit guilty for not having done more to fend off the dog or to employ some other evasion tactic.  dan and i talked about how we both saw the entire incident as if it had played out in front of us in slow motion.  dan was right behind john.  i was right behind dan, but off to dan's left side, so i also had a clear view of what took place.

the pit bull had begun running off of his property in a gully along side the road.  as this had happened no less that five times earlier in the morning, i don't think any of us give this particular dog much thought.  the dog then ran up out of the gully and onto the road, behind john's bike, at about a five o'clock position so john didn't see him at first.   as we all starting calling out about the dog, the dog got closer to john, now alongside the middle of his bike, then leaned in directly to bite john's left ankle.  john, watching the dog, had stopped peddling and was coasting with his left leg fully extended downward, so his foot was level with the dog's head, making it a prime target.

twenty minutes later, a deputy sheriff from the county arrived to talk with john and the rest of us about the incident.  after the deputy sheriff left to investigate the dog, andy drove john to a nearby hospital, just to ensure that things were okay.  john got his wounds cleaned again, got a couple of shots and was back with the group in time for dinner.  he won't ride the steep hill climbs tomorrow, but will be back on his bike on sunday.

the deputy called john a little while ago and said that the dog, as per tennessee state policy, has been taken in and will be quarantined for ten days to conform no rabies (there have been no reported cases of rabies in western tennessee for over 20 years, according to the hospital and the sheriff's office).  and the owner of the house who's porch the dog was resting on when the sheriff  arrived, swore the dog didn't belong to him.  that man has also received a summons and a fine.

enough excitement for one day.  tomorrow promises to be another long (91 miles), hot (high-90's/low 100's) day going briefly into kentucky before boarding a ferry across the mississippi to missouri, where we'll finish up the day's ride and spend the first of five nghts in that state.